Given the course profile, and the point in the race, with Mont Ventoux looming tomorrow, it's a day for the breakaways. And sure enough, we have a large breakaway that formed 42km into today's stage. They're currently 76km into the stage, with 115km remaining. However their lead is only 35sec.

Americans Tejay van Garderen (BMC) and Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) are both in the move.

The last 30km includes three Cat. 4 climbs. They each have an average gradient of just over four percent and are not more than a couple of kilometers long. These climbs may not seem like much, but after two weeks of racing, riders can really make a difference here. It’s a good place for a rider lacking a big finish kick to put in a big attack. With a tailwind in the last 6.5km, a strong rider may be able to solo away to victory in Lyon.

Andrew Talansky is the highest classified rider in the breakaway. He likes the region around today's finishing place in Lyon. Out of his 5 UCI wins, 4 were less than 200 kilometres away from Lyon. In 2010 he won stage 2 of the Tour des Pays de Savoie (in La Thuile), in 2012 he won stage 4 and the GC in the Tour de l'Ain (Septmoncel and Lélex) and in this year's Paris-Nice he won stage 3 to Brioude. His only victory that wasn’t in the vicinity of Lyon was in 2010. He won the U.S. U23 national time trial championships in Bend, Oregon.

Salut from the roads of France! Matt Beaudin, Dan Seaton and I are on the road from start to finish. It's a long hors course today, but will be a longer day for the riders. Not a flat bit of road in sight.

Have to imagine there are some tired legs in that peloton. And with Ventoux tomorrow, Sky is probably happy to just ride an even tempo on the front. Could be good for Talansky, not just to fight for the stage win, but to claw back some of his 13min deficit to Froome.

Of all riders in this year's Tour, José Joaquin Rojas is the rider with the most top 10 finishes in his Tour career without ever finishing 1st or 2nd. He was amongst the best ten 27 times, with a 3rd place as a best result (5 times).

From LeTour.fr: One of the riders in the escape today is Jens Voigt (RTL), who started the attack. This is his 16th Tour de France and he's finished all but two of them. He's won three stages (including a team time trial) and has worn the yellow jersey. Today is his 303rd day of racing in the Tour de France.

Breakaway currently on the Cat.4 Cote de la Croix Couverte. It's the second cat-4 climb of stage 14. The top is at the 99.5km mark after a 2.6km uphill stretch. The 18 escapees are currently cutting through a big crowd of spectators with Albasini at the front. The group of 18 is 2'30" ahead of the peloton.

Jens Voigt (41 years 299 days) can become the oldest rider ever to win a stage in the Tour de France. The current record is held by Belgian Pino Cerami. He was 41 years and 95 days when he won on stage 9 in 1963, 202 km from Bordeaux to Pau.

From LeTour.fr: Of the 18 men in the lead of stage 14, five have previously won a stage of the Tour de France. The most recent winner is Michael Albasini (OGE) as he was part of the fastest formation in the team time trial. The others in the lead who have prviously won a stage are: Jan Bakelants (RTL), Jens Voigt (RTL), David Millar (GRS), Marcus Burghardt (BMC).